My online dating circle has millions of followers, why would she put a collar on me?

Wang Jianguo was at a loss for words.

Just then, Xia Anmian's phone rang.

She glanced down at the caller ID; the contact name that popped up on the screen was "Father."

There is no "dad" or "old man," just two cold, hard words: "father."

Xia Anmian stared at the name for two seconds, but didn't answer.

The phone kept vibrating, the buzzing sound particularly jarring in the quiet carriage.

Wang Jianguo glanced at her but didn't say anything.

The first call rang a dozen times before automatically disconnecting.

Less than ten seconds later, it rang again.

Still "father".

Xia Anmian took a deep breath and answered the call.

She didn't speak first, but simply held the phone to her ear and waited for the other person to speak.

A middle-aged man's voice came from the other end of the phone, deep and steady, carrying an undeniable sense of authority.

"Peace of mind."

"Um."

"Did Uncle Wang go to pick you up?"

"Um."

"Once you arrive, come straight to the hotel. I have something to tell you."

Xia Anmian's eyelashes drooped down, casting a small fan-shaped shadow under her eyes.

"If it's about Jiang Yi, then there's no need for that."

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone.

Those two seconds of silence were more oppressive than any outburst of rage, like the suffocating calm before a storm.

"Just so you know I'm talking about this."

"I'll handle my own affairs. And your martial arts school."

"Your business?" The voice on the other end remained calm, but each word seemed to be squeezed out from between clenched teeth. "Your business is related to someone..."

He paused for a moment, as if he were carefully choosing his words, or perhaps suppressing some emotion that was about to erupt.

"To be with a conman who uses fake photos to have online romances with other girls? Anmian, you are a daughter of the Xia family, your marriage is not just your own business."

Xia Anmian's fingers tightened around her phone, her knuckles turning white.

"He's not a fraud," she said, her voice soft but firm.

"We have already investigated."

"You investigated him?" Xia Anmian's voice finally showed a hint of emotion, not surprise, but anger. "What right do you have to investigate him? How many times have I told you not to interfere in my private life!"

"Because I am your father."

This sentence was like an iron gate, slamming shut and sealing off all possibilities of further communication.

Xia Anmian pursed her lips into a line, and her jaw tightened slightly.

She was silent for three seconds.

Then she pressed the hang-up button.

The moment the red words "Call Ended" appeared, the carriage was so quiet that Wang Jianguo could be heard sighing softly.

He turned to look at the girl he had watched grow up, his gaze filled with a complex emotion.

There is heartache, helplessness, and a sense of knowing "I knew this would happen."

"Anmian," Wang Jianguo said softly, as if he were soothing a wronged child. "Your father is doing this for your own good."

Xia Anmian placed her phone face down on her lap, turned her head to look out the car window, and did not reply.

"You might not know this." Wang Jianguo leaned back in his chair, his gaze falling on the taillights of the cars ahead. His voice was slow, as if he were pulling memories back bit by bit from a distant place.

"You may not know this, but he was supposed to go to the south for an inspection today. However, after learning about your situation, he has been waiting for you for a long time and hasn't slept for a whole night and day."

Xia Anmian's fingers curled slightly on her knee.

"He's not saying you can't date," Wang Jianguo continued, his tone carrying the weight of someone who's been through it all.

"He's afraid you'll be deceived. You're his only daughter; the Xia family has had only one son for three generations, and you're the only one in your generation."

"Your grandfather, and all those years he's worked so hard to build the Xia family into what it is today, what was it all for? Wasn't it to make your future easier?"

"But what gives him the right to investigate Jiang Yi?" Xia Anmian finally spoke, her voice a little hoarse. "He's never even met him, yet he's concluded he's a fraud based on a few photos and a few pages of paper? He claims Jiang Yi used fake photos to have online relationships with other girls—what evidence does he have?"

Wang Jianguo remained silent for a few seconds.

He pulled a thick stack of manila envelopes from the file pocket on the side of his seat, sealed with a confidentiality label.

The envelope wasn't handed to Xia Anmian; it was simply placed on the seat between the two of them, and the finger tapped it lightly a few times.

"You want evidence? It's all here."

Xia Anmian stared at the envelope but didn't reach out to take it.

The carriage fell silent again.

After a while, Wang Jianguo picked up the envelope and put it back into the document bag.

"It's better not to watch," he said, his voice sounding tired. "Watching it will only make you feel worse."

Xia Anmian turned her head back and looked again at the gray sky outside the car window.

The buildings on both sides of the elevated highway rushed past, some familiar, some unfamiliar. She had visited Shanghai many times, but each time she came, her feelings were different.

This time, it's the worst.

Her phone vibrated again.

It wasn't a phone call, it was a WeChat message.

She glanced down and saw that it was a message from Gu Qinghan.

I sent her two messages, asking if she had landed yet.

Xia Anmian scrolled up and discovered that Gu Qinghan had sent a message before.

Gu Qinghan: Mianmian, can you help me check if the people in these two photos are the same person?

Two photos are attached below.

The first photo is a man's profile.

The background is Luckin Coffee. The man is wearing a dark coat, his profile is turned towards the camera, his jawline is sharp, and his brow bone is well-defined.

He was tilting his head slightly, as if talking to someone opposite him, with a faint smile on his lips.

Xia Anmian felt something was familiar; it looked so much like...

Jiang Yi.

Then, she looked at the photo below.

The second photo is of the airport arrival hall.

A girl wearing a beige trench coat and a light blue floral dress rushed into a man's arms, wrapped her arms around his waist, and buried her face in his chest.

The man's hand hung in mid-air, as if hesitating about where to put it.

She recognized that man's back view all too well.

She recognized that man's profile all too well.

She was all too familiar with the man's clothes—the faded hoodie, the sneakers he'd worn for almost two years.

Jiang Yi.

Xia Anmian stared at the photo, motionless.

The hazy sunlight outside the car window shone through the glass onto her face, making her skin appear almost translucent white, and her eyes slowly, very slowly, reddened.

She didn't know the girl, but that didn't matter anymore.

Xia Anmian's hands were trembling as she held her phone.

Finally, he slowly typed out a sentence.

"Qinghan, who is that boy?"